Patty’s Cornmeal Butter Cake

This cake is a marvel of simplicity and, according to a friend who tasted her way through this book, one of the very best recipes. The cake’s cornmeal crunch is in perfect counterpoint to its butter-and-egg richness. The recipe is adapted from one by Pat Tillinghast, chef-owner with her husband, Bruce, of Two Rivers in Providence, Rhode Island, an intimate restaurant at the downtown junction of the city’s rivers.